Did you want to join Blaine's Forest? 🌳🌲 by Blaine D. Arden

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How many books did you read as a child, {{contact.first_name}} 📚📖

I never understood the three-week return period. 🤔

A dreamy, fantasy forest with tall, ethereal trees and colorful foliage in shades of purple, pink, orange, and blue, illuminated by soft, glowing light. with the text: Blaine D. Arden - Queer Romantic SFF - Our Difference Is Our Strength

Hello, Free-spirited Forest Dweller,

📚 From library rat to digital hoarder


I love reading. I always have. I basically lived at the library as a kid, and I still don't leave the house without a book. Though, I no longer carry paperbacks with me.


One of my happiest memories from that library life, was finally being allowed in the adult section, which opened a whole new era of reading for me. (get your mind out of the gutter, it would be many years before I read any sex scenes, even more before I wrote any 🤪)


Another memory of that time, one that baffled me for many years—no, decades—is why the return period was three weeks. Three weeks! I was bringing back five to seven books a week. And yet, my biggest regret is that I never kept a record of all the books I read... I can barely remember a handful. (yay for apps like goodreads, story graph, fable, bookmory, etc)


Anyway... last summer, I went back to borrowing books. Through Kobo Plus. Granted, they don't have as many books as Amazon does, but KU wasn't available when I first started buying ebooks (the Netherlands didn't have their own Amazon back then), and as a non-US (wide) author, I support the non-exclusivity. (aka, you can put your books in Kobo Plus AND publish it everywhere else.)


✍️ What's Blaine working on?


Still writing The Songs We Owe . Still slow-going. The week after a bank holiday always throws me off my rhythm. I keep having to check what day it is.


🙋🏻 Question of the week:

How do you get your reading fix? Library card, subscription, or a dangerously tall to-buy pile? Feel free to email me, I love to hear how you find your favourite books.


Until next week,


Blaine

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Kobo Plus Showcase

If you've got Kobo Plus, there's a great selection of Fantasy and Science Fiction books (including How Six Saved the Frogs ) featured here:

A blue dragon sits in a sunlit forest with the text April 2026 Fantasy and Sci-Fi in Kobo Plus overlaid

[A blue dragon sits in a sunlit forest with the text "April 2026 Fantasy & Sci-Fi in Kobo Plus" overlaid.]


If you don't... Kobo Plus has ebooks and audiobooks, and is a great alternative to Amazon's Kindle subscription. Read more here.

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Queer Sci Fi Giveaway Pack

How Six Saved the Frogs  is part of QueerSciFi's monthly newsletter giveaway. 

Four books for subscribing to Queer Sci-Fi, and the authors' newsletters.

Banner reading 'Join the queer sci fi email list' above four sci-fi ebook covers, with text offering four free spec fic ebooks

[Banner reading “Join the queer sci fi email list” above four sci-fi ebook covers, with text offering four free spec fic ebooks.]

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Reader Extras Archive

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#15 Apr 3, 2026

Characters just wanna have fun, {{contact.first_name}}. 🥳 🛹

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Posting a work in progress scares me, {{contact.first_name}} 😱✍️

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